Neuroblastoma Treatment

There are a multitude of treatment options to treat neuroblastoma. The most commonly known treatments are surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, but there are many more including retinoid therapy, immunotherapy, and clinical trials. The type of treatment chosen is often times specific to the child and their circumstances. Most patients undergo a series or combination of treatments in hopes of destroying the cancer. Surgery is usually the first treatment for a neuroblastoma patient. Surgery can be used to remove parts of the tumor in order to diagnose the stage of the cancer, which is called an open biopsy. Surgery is also commonly used to remove as much of the tumor as possible to lessen the need for other treatments. Chemotherapy is also a common form of treatment for neuroblastoma. This treatment utilizes drugs that enter the bloodstream and attack the cancer. This is a preferred form of treatment for patients whose cancer has spread into different parts of their body because the drugs are in the bloodstream and travel throughout the body. Chemotherapy can be used to …show more content…
Low risk group patients have higher than a ninety-five percent chance of surviving at least five years post-diagnosis. The five-year survival rate for intermediate risk group children is between ninety and ninety-five percent. The five-year survival rate significantly drops to forty to fifty percent for patients categorized as high risk. Therefore, children diagnosed at an earlier stage have better survival rates but approximately two-thirds of neuroblastoma patients are not diagnosed until the cancer has spread throughout the body, specifically the lymph nodes. Diagnosis of neuroblastoma usually occurs around one to two years old. The late diagnosis and the spread of cancer are two factors that place patients into the high risk group(“Neuroblastoma). About sixty percent of patients relapse with cancer at some point in their